The People Under The Stairs [1991]
Director: Wes Craven
Genre: Comedy/Horror/Mystery/Thriller
Language: English
Country: USA
Wes Craven’s “The People Under The Stairs” (hereby titled PUTS from this point forward) is not really a horror movie, but it certainly has elements of one. Perhaps best labeled as a dark comedy of sorts, PUTS is a mostly enjoyable movie that is both campy and suspenseful at the same time. The basic premise is that a ghetto family is unable to pay rent and is going to be evicted. Fool (Brandon Adams), the little boy of the family and de facto man of the house, decides to do what he can to help out his sick mother and his older sister pay rent. After hearing from a friend of the family (Ving Rhames) that his landlord’s house is full of gold coins, Fool tags along on a burglary run. Naturally, what Fool and the others stumble upon is not your normal house. The landlords – only known as Mommy and Daddy – are batshit crazy, and they keep a number of child rejects locked in their cellar (hence the movie’s title). Fool and his “friends” make some startling revelations, and of course there is a lot of chasing being done around the house once the landlords find out about the burglars.
Wendy Robie and Everett McGill are delightfully over-the-top in their roles as the psychotic Mommy and Daddy, respectively, and they are true highlights from the film (they also played husband and wife on “Twin Peaks”). Young Brandon Adams is competent enough in the lead role and rattles off some amusing one-liners throughout the madness. PUTS is never really scary at any point, and it is at its best when it throws in bits of humor here and there. The campiness is well-executed as well, and there is definitely a tongue-in-cheek atmosphere throughout.
Although the second half of the movie starts to get repetitive, it is still largely satisfying due to Robie and McGill’s performances. How can you not love seeing a man wearing leather bondage gear from head to toe (a la “The Gimp” from Pulp Fiction) randomly shooting up his own house? There is a lot to like with The People Under The Stairs, despite it not being one of Wes Craven’s best works. As long as you appreciate films that don’t take themselves seriously and you don’t go into the movie with the idea of it being a strictly horror film, you should enjoy this one.
6/10
